The Time Travel Tale of Saki Yuramashi
by PhiSat
Summary: At the twilight of the Edo period, a young girl lost her way through time. Trained to be a swordswoman, one day a chance encounter with Hitokiri Battousai changes many things, including her perception of time. AU, main character OCs, Romance included.


**New fanfic, everyone!**

__**Well, it's an interesting one. I've recently gotten into Rurouni Kenshin, and I'd also had ideas mixing together in a giant sort of boiling pot thing like some nasty stew. XP So I finally decided to purge them by writing this thing out. By the time I'm done with this it will probably be the subject of scorn and hate. Hopefully not as bad as a troll fic. XP**

**It's been a while since I've written OCs. So here goes another try. This means, for all you OC haters, THERE ARE OCs IN THIS FIC AS MAIN CHARACTERS. This also means THIS IS AU. There will also be ROMANCE AS A MAIN THEME, though I have not yet decided on the pairings. If it don't float your boat, you're welcome to read no further, I won't hate you. ^.^  
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**For those of you who've stayed, welcome to a bizarre time-travel adventure.**

**Cheers, PhiSat.**

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><p><em>I don't remember the exact time I came from. I know I'll never return to it. It won't come to pass in my lifetime. It wouldn't come to pass in 50 lifetimes. This is my home now, the line between the Edo and Meiji eras. And perhaps beyond, I can't say.<em>

_However, there is one thing I do remember. A kind man, with bright eyes like my own and a kind smile. He was an inventor, and I remember he made many wondrous creations, but there is only one I remember that was author a doubt his own._

_The Time Device._

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><p><em>1855<em>

The village was burning.

A girl stood in horror, eyes frozen on the scene. She couldn't move. Couldn't cry out, though tears streamed down her pale face. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was her father...

A wooden beam on one of the houses snapped, dropping a house's roof on a frightened woman, desperately trying to field get child.

The sight broke her; she did cry now.

Suddenly, as quickly as her tears hit, a feeling hit her now. She couldn't stay here, starting at this ancient village burn to the ground. There was nothing she could do, no help she could offer. She needed to get out of here.

Somehow, the girl tore her eyes from the scene and ran. She didn't know where she was going. Anywhere but here.

She ran, ran until she found herself on to of a tall hill. She stopped, catching her breath. The doomed village was still visible, glowing red in the otherwise black night.

Someone was coming. That feeling again. She just knew someone was here.

The girl liked around quickly, searching for a hiding place. Any hiding place. There! The girl fell to the ground and twisted hiding in the short bushes. Out of sight. Just like back home playing hide and go seek. She was always the best at it.

No one would see her.

A minute passed in the moderate, autumn night.

Slowly, but determinedly, a man ascended the hill, from the opposite side of the hill. He was not from the village. At the to of the hill, he stopped, examining the village below, saying nothing. After more time, he sighed, dark eyes sad. He was not surprised by the Bafuku's decision. This village's tale was not a unique one. They had been hit by drought, and so the village had been avoiding paying its tax quota of rice for two years. The nobles controlling the region were sympathetic right until it spouted being neutral and started being inconvenient. Typical nobleman behavior.

The village should have just paid what it owed. Then the people would have just been starving rather than starving _and_burning alive.

He turned away. This was not what Tameyoshi had come to see. He had been so certain. He was getting too old top be searching the countryside for a needle in a haystack. But his sensei had specified it would be this year he had to search... And it was getting late in the year. Ju ishi tsuki... If he didn't find...

He suddenly felt it. There was someone hiding, not ten paces from him. Their ki had suddenly flared, tainted with fear.

Tameyoshi drew his katana, keeping one hand near his concealed wakizashi. "Come out. I know you're here." The threat of the sword may not be necessary, but it was prudent.

For a minute, nothing happened. No movement. Tameyoshi waited, still.

Then, finally, the bushes rustled. A young girl got up and faced him.

Tameyoshi's eyes widened. This was no ordinary girl. Orange hair, darker at the top of her head than at the bottom, where it was almost blond, pale skin... She was foreign, out at the very least had foreign blood. She was tall for a girl, already up to the top of his waist. Not as small as he believed then... and yet she was not full grown, far from it

Then he saw her eyes. Silver eyes... He had only seen silver eyes once, on one other person...

This was it. This must be the girl.

He always wondered how his sensei had known this girl would appear in this time, or why his sensei wanted him to find her in the first place. No, not wanted. His sensei had _insisted _upon it. He had had to make the most serious of vows that he would find this child or die trying.

_Who are you, girl?_

The girl was staring at him with curious eyes. And there was… Was that _defiance_ he was reading from her? She was hardly scared at all anymore… Interesting… Did he look so ridiculous, lost in thought? Or perhaps she had been overwhelmed, and thus lost her fear… Hmm… If only he was better at reading ki…

There was more interesting, though. Like the subject of her attire… He… Tameyoshi couldn't even describe it. Could the outlandish costume even qualify as clothing? All white and silver…

He did not ask her whether she was from the village. That would be the most stupid question he'd ever asked. A question worthy of a _baka_. He would have to be broader in his questioning.

So, lowering his katana slightly, as to appear less threatening (even though she didn't seem scared) he asked his first question. "Where are you from?"

The girl frowned. Her ki suddenly displayed confusion, as if she didn't understand the question… What if she didn't understand Japanese? That would be problematic… But Tameyoshi's fears, at least these ones, were dispelled when she spoke.

"I… I'm from Aitsuna… Where is this? Why am I here?" The defiance was gone, the girl was a child again, fearful and lost.

Well, at least she spoke Japanese, even if it was tinted with a strange accent. Aitsuna… It was pronounceable, unlike many foreign words, but Tameyoshi had never heard of such a place. Was there even such a place? It was certainly not in Japan… But Tameyoshi was not an expert on foreign lands. No one was. He answered what he could.

"You're in the Kansai region of Japan, approximately two days' walk from Kyoto." If you walked quickly. He didn't mention the village's name. This was not the first time this had been a small village's fate. Tameyoshi knew it would soon be as if this place had never existed at all. Forgotten or removed.

The girl had gone pale. "J-Japan? But… It hasn't…" Tameyoshi snapped his mind back onto the girl; he felt her ki shift a second too late. _Baka…_

"I… I realize you are likely far from home…" Tameyoshi blinked. The girl was doing something unusual. She reached for a silver cord- no, a chain around her neck, and revealed a strange object, a silver ball surrounded by three rings. A chain descended from the thick, silver ring.

Any doubt that remained in Tameyoshi's mind vanished. He had seen such an object before.

_Sensei…_

"Who are you…?"

The girl looked up. "What?"

That accent again. It was immediately noticeable, if not recognizable. This girl was in danger. Foreigners were forbidden in Japan. If she was found by unkind eyes, she would be killed, maybe even on sight. Such was the Bafuku's law.

"Come with me. This place is not safe." This village especially. Tameyoshi was sure soldiers would be here soon to make sure no one had escaped the village. They had to be gone before the troops scouted the surrounding area.

The girl held his gaze with those too-familiar eyes. "Who are you?"

Tameyoshi felt another stir of familiarity, but he pushed it aside for now. "Later. We need to be somewhere safer before introducing ourselves."

She must have caught the insistence in his voice, because with a stiff nod, she followed him in the direction he had come from. Home.

It was taking longer than it usually would have taken Tameyoshi to make ground. On the other hand, he was traveling with a young child, instead of being alone. He had been alone since he stopped teaching at the Sanshin Dojo in Kyoto. And even then, he wasn't very close to anyone. He trained others in defense for the money, nothing more. Perhaps he should have made friends. But he just wasn't that comfortable around other people. One or two were fine, but he just felt lost among many others.

Tameyoshi looked back. The girl was starting to fall behind, though she didn't want to show tiredness. She was determined to keep advancing, it was obvious.

He hoped, after so much time alone, he was up to the task he'd sworn to complete.

"Alright. We'll rest here." Tameyoshi stopped and sat on a smooth rock just off of the path they were following. He reached into the bag he was carrying around his shoulder, pulling out a stopped jug. He held it out to the girl. "It's water. I'll do you good."

The girl took the jug, almost immediately dropping it. She wasn't used to its weight, or so it seemed. She recovered before it completely slipped from her grasp, however, and unstopping it, took a sip with a grimace.

"More." He waited until her breathing had slowed, then took the jug back. "Not all of it." He smiled at the girl before taking a drink himself. He noticed her ki had turned uncertain. This would be more difficult than he had thought… And he hadn't thought it would be simple.

"Let's start from the beginning. What's your name, girl?"

"You first." She countered. "I asked first."

And so she had… Tameyoshi again felt a tug a familiarity at this sort of exchange. "My name is Tameyoshi Hideki." He looked behind them. The moon, just a crescent, gave only a slight light. He closed his eyes, focusing his ki on the area, searching for someone who might have followed them. Not a soul.

The girl mumbled a garbled run of syllables.

"What did you say?"

"That's my name." With that, she spoke it again, just as garbled.

Tameyoshi blinked. She was serious… But… How could that be a name? That mess of sounds… He could never pronounce that, let alone remember it. It just raised more questions about the girl's origin. But now was not the time for that. The girl's ki still projected some confusion, and some fear now. It was clear she had no idea what was going on.

"I… I'm sorry, I don't think there's any possibility I'll be able to remember that… And no one here is going to be able to understand what you're saying." It was better to be honest about that point. A name like that would attract suspicion, not to mention attention in general. That would need to be avoided.

_Ha, you're too honest, Tameyoshi._ His sensei berated him for it._ Baka_. But the reprimand often came with a smile. Besides, he found honesty was the best way to show respect to someone. It was a trait he wanted to keep.

The girl looked at him. It was dark, but her ki told him she was annoyed. The tug hit him again. This was exactly the way his sensei would glare at him when he was being annoying…

_Sensei, were you related to this girl? Is that how you knew when she would appear?_

He was becoming lost in thought again. This time, he pulled himself out of it. "I… I'll need to call you something in the meantime…" The girl said nothing, confused again. "Well, unless you're really not okay with it… But the situation… I'll explain later." Not now. It was a long tale.

The girl remained silent, but she finally nodded her head once. Just once. Tameyoshi sensed something in her ki, but he couldn't identify it. He pushed it aside.

"A-Alright…" Was he nervous about this commitment he was taking on? About finally fulfilling the vow he'd made to his sensei? Yes, yes he was. But now there was no turning back. "What about… What about Saki? You seem to me like your name would be Saki, if I could only guess from knowing you for a brief time."

The girl finally spoke. "Saki…" Testing the name, if it fit her. Tameyoshi waited.

"Yes. That's my name here. Saki." The girl, Saki now, gave a faint smile.

Despite himself, Tameyoshi smiled. Had he been holding his breath? No… Surely not… Now his commitment began.

_Sensei, I hope you knew what you were doing._


End file.
